Debutant Enzo Trulli had a season to remember with Algarve Pro Racing, from winning the opening round of the European Le Mans Series in Barcelona to securing the LMP2 Pro/Am championship in the final laps of the season finale in Portimão, in what he himself described as a complete shock.
On APR’s home soil, the #20 entry did the unthinkable. Starting from third on the grid, the team dropped back at the beginning of the race after Michael Jensen received a 10-second time penalty for a Virtual Safety Car infringement.
“That did set us back. It was quite hard to recover from that because we tried a different strategy with me when I took over from Michael to keep the tyres alive and try to gain some positions, but we didn’t have a lot of pace to do so and the safety car, which we were hoping for, never came.”
But the 21-year-old Italian, together with Danish teammates 51-year-old Michael Jensen and 22-year-old Malte Jakobsen, never gave up.
“We had to push like crazy; it all came down to the end.”
While TDS Racing crossed the finish line first, with APR and Malte Jakobsen behind them, a drive-through penalty for exceeding track limits, which was converted into a post-race time penalty, handed both the race win and the championship title to the Portuguese squad.
“We were shocked, there were a lot of emotions. It’s just unbelievable,” said the newly crowned champion, who was still full of adrenaline.
The champions collected two wins and two second place finishes across the six races long ELMS season, finishing nine points ahead of the #14 TDS crew.
“Big thanks to the team, to my teammates, it wouldn’t be possible without them. I’m very, very grateful.”
